Ashen Wings
by Ink Reservoir
Summary: Nothing meant anything anymore, not the will of fire, not freedom, not love, not the crest on his back. Time didn't care where he had come from.


**Warning: Contains spoilers. Takes place during chapters 671 - 673 which haven't been animated yet (at the time of writing this warning, anyway. I mean if you're reading this in two years then it might have been animated.)**

**Ashen Wings**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. **

"...the reincarnation of Indra."

Sasuke wasn't listening anymore. Since the old man had started on his two sons, naturally gifted and talentless there had been a buzzing in Sasuke's head, and he'd known exactly where this was going. It all made sense, anyway, though up until now he had pushed the matter to the back of his head.

Insignificant.

No, now it was a matter of destiny, and it was very real. The only choice he had now was to break a cycle to unleash a sequence of inevitable events, to fulfill the destiny prescribed to him by not fulfilling the destiny of the ones who were before him, those other reincarnations... or to continue a circle that had been happening and happening again for generations, slipping into another predetermined fate.

What point did it have anymore? The roads were ahead of him and he was fated to choose one. He had made the choice in his mind hours ago when he heard Hashirama's story, to change himself and to change the village, but he realized now that that was not his choice and it never was. It was something that had to happen, something that would happen, and even if he decided to just walk away now, Naruto wouldn't let it happen without a fight and the legacy of a hundred Ashuras and Indras would be ceased by someone else.

What did it matter?

"Is that your decision?" the old man asked.

"Yes," Sasuke said. Of course it was.

He woke up from temporary death to a hazy world. There were people around him and they spoke to him, but he didn't hear a word of it. What could they be saying that wasn't expected? He was to be a hero now. Of course they cared.

He walked past them, knowing what he had to do to end this. It took very little effort to free Tobirama from the single stick prison Madara had put him in, and Sasuke's lips were moving but he didn't know what he was telling him. He didn't care. None of this had any bearing, any significance. It never had. It never would. Nothing meant anything anymore, not the will of fire, not freedom, not love, not the crest on his back. Uchiha, did the word matter now? Did time care where he had come from? No, his family had been a formality. Another destiny fulfilled, propelling him to what? To this. To Naruto, whose soul was brother to Sasuke's. It didn't matter, though, neither of them did. They were just milestones in the process of Ashura and Indra finally growing up after being reborn a hundred times. Sasuke and what he meant as a part of Taka, as a part of Team Seven, as the brother to Itachi and the final survivor of the Uchiha clan, none of it mattered anymore, none of these things that made up his identity or determined the choices he made or what he held as important. None of his goals, none of his plans for a changed future, all of it had become ashes. Part of a forgotten world. A dream.

He was standing beside Naruto now, in front of Madara, and he didn't have the energy to wonder why they thought anything they said was important. Of course he and Naruto would defeat Madara. There was no other option. This was their destiny.

The world around him had become muffled, blurry, but he knew that the old world of clarity was the true illusion.

**A/N: I wrote this fanfiction way back when chapter 673 came out. It was sort of my way of venting, I guess. I really hate what Kishimoto did to Sasuke with the whole reincarnation thing. I mean, when it was Naruto, I saw it coming, but I always felt like Sasuke was sort of separate from all the prophecy things because he always ignored it and just did what he wants. I honestly was devastated when I found out that now he only had two options, and that both options were just part of some predetermined destiny. Neji was right all along. Who would have thought, right?**

**Not that Kishimoto is acknowledging this, which makes me so, so angry, but whatever. Thanks for reading. I call this "Ashen Wings" because it was the exact moment when it finally hit me that neither Naruto nor Sasuke has any free will anymore, and because everything that made Sasuke free is irrelevant in the grand destiny scheme. Burnt away, just like that.**

**Also, just a note on Friendly Vengeance, I was hit by some writer's block and then life got in the way. It's summer now, though, so I'll be working on it. Wow, this author's note was long. Thanks for reading, and reviews are always appreciated.  
**


End file.
